Spelman-Morehouse Tradition Kicks Off Holidays
ATLANTA -- It’s a holiday tradition you don’t want to miss! The annual Spelman-Morehouse Christmas Carol concert will, again, kick-off the Christmas season for metro-Atlanta residents. Mark your calendars and join the Spelman College and Morehouse College Glee Clubs for some Christmas cheer. Each show is free and open to the public!
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
• Kick-off Performance
Friday, Dec. 3, 2010
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
Morehouse College Campus
8 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010
Sisters Chapel
Spelman College Campus
8 p.m.
• Final Performance
Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
Morehouse College Campus
6 p.m.
The combined choirs of about 100 singers will perform a mixture of new selections and traditional favorites. Two of the holiday favorites, featured each year, are “We Are Christmas” performed by the Spelman College Glee Club and written by Kevin Johnson, chair, department of music at Spelman and Sarah Stephens, C’2007; and “Betelemehu," a Nigerian Christmas Carol performed by the Morehouse College Glee Club under the leadership of Director David Morrow, professor, department of music at Morehouse.
Each year more than 6,500 supporters attend the free concerts. The choral performance has been rebroadcast on local and national television for the past several years airing on WXIA (Atlanta NBC Affiliate), the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and the Gospel Music Channel. The concert is recognized around the country as one of the foremost Christmas performances.
Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a prestigious, highly selective, liberal arts college that prepares women to change the world. Located in Atlanta, Ga., this historically Black college boasts an 80 percent graduation rate, and outstanding alumnae such as Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; former U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis, authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage; and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees, and the average faculty to student ratio is 12:1. More than 2,100 students attend Spelman.
Morehouse College:
As the nation’s largest, private liberal arts college for men, Morehouse College was recently recognized as the number one liberal arts college in the nation by Washington Monthly; one of 45 best buy schools for 2011 by the Fiske Guide to Colleges; one of the nation’s most grueling colleges in 2010 by The Huffington Post; the number three HBCU in the nation for 2011 by U.S. News and World Report; and as one of American’s Best Colleges for three consecutive years by Forbes magazine.
Prominent alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize winner and civil and human rights non-violent leader; Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General and director of the National Center for Primary Care of Morehouse School of Medicine; Shelton “Spike” Lee, filmmaker and president of 40 Acres & A Mule Productions; Samuel L. Jackson, Academy Award-nominated actor; Maynard H. Jackson, founder of Jackson Securities and the first African American mayor of Atlanta; and Nima A. Warfield, the first African American Rhodes Scholar from an HBCU.
In 2011, the Morehouse College Glee Club and Music Department will launch their centennial anniversary, celebrating 100 years of music education excellence.
